Radical changes planned in F-1

Despite being the second most popular sport in the world after football, Formula one is still worried about its future.

Written by NDTVSports

Read Time: 2 mins

New Delhi:

Despite being the second most popular sport in the world after football, Formula one is still worried about its future.
Especially since Michael Schumacher keeps winning all the time and it was perhaps the Schumi factor, which has forced F-1 to approve of major changes that will come into effect from 2006, in a bid to make the sport less expensive and more inclined towards the skills of the driver.
The proposed changes in formula one were necessitated by the need to make racing more affordable.
Currently Michael Schumacher's Ferrari team spends about $450 million in a year, while a small time player like Minardi only has a budget of about $35 million.
"What I think it all comes down to is there is virtually complete acceptance of these revolutionary proposals; agreement on the objectives; and agreement that the engine manufacturers, the seven companies that are concerned with engines, are going to sit down together to reduce the costs of the engines by 50 per cent,aÂÂ said
Max Mosley, President, FIA.
Besides reducing the costs by almost 50 per cent, the other changes include smaller engines putting all the teams on the same set of tyres and maybe even banning the use of spare cars.
It is believed that many of these changes have been prompted because of Michael Schumacher's complete dominance in Formula 1 over the last few years.
He has won four of the last world titles and the first four races of this season as well, leading many to believe that he could even win all 18 of them this year.